Your Ventures Unfair Advantage

1) Willingness to help others- I love helping other people and my willingness to help others sets me apart. I can use this to help others get jobs and start their careers straight out of college.
2) Ability to talk to people - I love talking to people and making connections. My business is helping people get connections in their respective field.
3) Family members - My family has many people in it that own their own businesses and have lots of connections. This will allow me to network with my family and hopefully find someone that will help someone else get started with their career.
4) Friendliness - I am friendly person who instills trust in most people I talk to. Because of this, people will trust me to help them network and find jobs.     
5) Hard worker - I put all my effort into everything I do. I work hard for everyone to help them out. This helps me because my hard work and determination will help me help the customers.
6) Leadership - I am a natural leader and people follow me. I lead by example and people trust me and follow. This will help me because I will be able to lead people to start their careers and lead a team of advisors.
7) Communication - I am able to communicate my ideas and thoughts to people. This helps me because I will be able to better connect with my customers.
8) Punctual - I am always on time to everything, most of the time early. This allows me to earn my customer's respect by keeping my word.
9) Good listener - I always try and listen to everyone intently. I want to get to know everyone as well as possible. This helps me because I will better be able to know the customer so I can then, hopefully, find them a job with people like the customer. 4
10) Empathy - I am decently good at feeling people's emotions and putting myself in their shoes. This is why I want to help people as much as I do. Because of this, I will be able to put my self in the customers shoes so I can help them start their career. 

My strongest attribute is willingness to help others. This is more important than the others because the others almost come from this one. This is my strongest characteristic and anyone that meets me for the first time notices that i have a passion just to help others. 

Growing Your Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry. This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry. This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 

What constitutes 'contact'? Social capital exists in the "potential goodwill" that exists between two people. For you to establish "potential goodwill" for this exercise, you need to have obtained feedback from each of these people on your business idea so far. For instance, this could include meeting with them to show your elevator pitch or your idea napkin. 

One last catch: The three people you add to your social capital cannot have participated in any other exercise you have completed as part of this course. 

How to write up this post. Break up your post into three parts, one for each person. For each person, describe:

1) Who they are and what their background is.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

1) Patrick DeJong is an advisor at University of Florida. He works with students of all ages to guide them through the process of college and hopefully lead them to a successful career. He is the domain expert of my industry because he has worked with my target audience for years. I found this person in the advising office of UF. He was the advisor for the college of Design, Construction, and Planning. I contacted him by setting an appointment with him and seeing him face to face. I talked to Mr. Dejong just as an interview. I explained to him the assignment and he was more than happy to help! Interviewing Mr. Dejong helped me because he has been working with my customer for a long time and knows their wants and needs.        

2) Lenae Price is the Nonprofit Divisions Lead, Head Trainer, and Coach for Cork Communications. Cork Communications works with college seniors and graduates to teach soft skills like communication, storytelling, and building relationships to people who know the fine details of their field, but not the best way to express their ideas or get their point across. She is related to a close friend of mine, and after a handful of interactions I became interested in her work. I received her number through my friend and we scheduled a long phone interview. Mrs. Price explained to me the best ways to reach out to people in this target age group and how to identify the ones that will best benefit from my services. In exchange, Mrs. Price and I worked out a deal to basically combine lists, since we can benefit our customers in different ways that will further their careers. If I help college graduates get jobs, I will refer them to Mrs. Price to receive better soft skills to improve their ability to complete their new job. On the other hand, she will refer her customers to me if they are still in the job-finding process.

3) Mike Garland is the COO of FanFirst. FanFirst is launching a sports lifestyle social media app and is currently looking for representation on college campuses. Mr. Garland is targeting college students so he can get the word out about the new app. He is my important supplier because he already offers college students opportunities and gives them chances to network with other people in the sports industry. I found this person because he reached out to my fraternity because he was looking for help on college campuses. I emailed Mr. Garland after he first emailed my fraternity. I talked to him for a while about how he networks, and in return, I will be working on campus as a representative of FanFirst. This person enhances my ability to exploit an opportunity because he adds to the people I know and will be a great person to network with.  

Idea Napkin No. 2

I am an sophomore who attends University of Florida. I have a large family, and, with that, come lots of connections. Whenever I need to network, I always ask my family first, because a few of my uncles own businesses and have been networking to promote them. I am a good leader, have no trouble talking to people, a great presenter, and am creative enough to come up with out of the box ideas, but am logical enough to still explain them. I want to own my own architecture firm and build custom houses, adding my own touch to each one. I want people to experience and enjoy the houses I make. I see my business essentially absorbing my life. I love building models, coming up with designs, and drawing. I will constantly think about my current commissions and come with with tons of designs for them. 

I am offering a way for graduating seniors to find jobs in their field and start their career faster. I want the students to reach their career goals early, and surpass them. I will solve their needs by networking for them. My company will have a large network of "ins" and then be able to help these seniors get jobs in their career field. 

My customers are people looking for jobs. My customer is nervous and a little worried about how his/her life will play out. My customers are all people who are motivated, but just need a little more of a push to get them their dream job. 

Customers will pay for my product because it gives them connections. This helps anyone. The more people you know, the more opportunities you have.  This can be accomplished by any person, but, having one resource that allows for lots more connections is priceless. 

The thing that sets me apart from everyone is is that I am determined. I will work hard for them and exceed all of their wants and needs. I will really help them meet people in their field and just make the trasnition from college into the "real world" easier than the transition from high school to college.        

Reading Reflection No. 2

The general argument of the book is that people today utilize their free time better than in than in the past. This book enhanced what we are learning in this class because it emphasizes that in our free time we are constantly identifying markets, whether that be through ads we see or playing random games. The exercise I would devise based on the book is to assign students to try and not use internet in their free time. Then, I would have the students reflect back on what they did in their free time compared to what they do on a regular basis, but make sure it is very detailed. I would ask questions such as, "In your free time, what exactly did you do on the internet?," "Did you learn anything from doing those things on the internet?", and then ask would ask the same questions about what they did on the day they did not use the internet. My biggest surprise was the claim that we use free time more efficiently. This idea was interesting to me because you always here the phrase "back in my day" and I kind of just assumed that people wasted less time in the past mostly because the internet did not exist. After reading the book, I realized, although we are wasting time by searching on the web or looking at our phones, our brains are actively learning.    

What's Your Secret Sauce

One way that I think that I am unique is that I care for everyone. I know everyone says this, but I will go out of my way to help complete strangers with almost anything. This can be kind of scary, because some people are not as kind as I assume they are, but, to me, it is worth the risk. I want to make sure that not only my loved ones and I are safe, but that everyone is safe. Another unique thing about me is the way that I study and do work. I will spend countless hours procrastinating and not being productive, but, when I have work to do, I sit down and focus all of my attention on the work until I am finished. One time, I was up for 52 hours straight building a model form my design class and I probably would not have even noticed that it had been that long were it not for the other people working in my studio. When I do my work, I really focus and do my work. A third unique trait I have is that  am creative. When I say creative I mean in a way that is almost unimaginable. I think in a different way than most people. I will come up with ideas that seem so ludicrous that, at first glance, do not make sense. Luckily, because I work so hard, I think everything out as well. I will have almost an immediate answer for any question someone throws at me when i pitch my ideas. With that being said, sometimes my ideas are not always the best. Sometimes it just makes more sense to go with a more straightforward answer to the problem then the out there thinking that I procure in my mind. The forth characteristic about my self is that I am interested in everything. This has been a struggle with me going to a school with so many majors to offer. I want to know as much as I can and am on a constant quest for knowledge. I know lots of "useless" facts about things just because almost everything peaks my interest. I love every subject in school and love solving problems. The fifth, and final, unique characteristic about myself is that I am a people person. I think this is in park because I am so caring for others, but I do not shy away from conversation. I enjoy talking to people about anything and am always ready to jump into a conversation.I just want to get to know people as well as I can. I absolutely love hearing peoples stories, wether it be from a homeless person on the side of the road or a CEO of a fortune 500 company.
I did five interviews with five different people who know me pretty well. I wanted to do these interviews in person, so they are my college friends, and a few people I knew from high school.

The first person I interviewed was Parker. Parker is my current girlfriend. She said my quality she most admires is that I am caring. She can count on me if she ever needs help and she knows I am always there not only for her, but for anyone.

The second person I interviewed was Logan. Logan is one of my first friends in high school and one of my best friends now. Logan said that my best quality was that I am rational. He said that I do come up with crazy ideas, but I do it in a rational way and make it easy to follow my though process.

The third person I interviewed was Joe. Joe is another one of my high school friends and he said my best quality was leading people. He said I was never afraid to stand up in front of a crowd and speak my mind.

The fourth person I interviewed was Kevin. I met Kevin at a summer camp after my Junior year in high school and stayed in touch with him every since. He is know in my architecture studio class. He said my best quality is that I am not afraid of speaking my min, no matter how crazy it may sound at first.

The fifth person I interviewed was Sammy. Sammy is one of my current roommates. I met him last year, and then decided to move in with him. He said my best characteristic is that I am determined. I work for everything and know I can achieve anything I put my mind towards.

Reflecting on myself, I think that I see myself in a more critical light than others. I am very aware of everything I do and always try and learn from it. People see me in a better light than I think they see me. I think I see myself differently because I always see myself and I know exactly what I am thinking. I think my interviewees are correct about me. I think that I do have those qualities, I just would not say it myself because I sometimes fall short of what I think those qualities mean. I think I would leave the list the way it is. I would not change it because it was a true reflection of what I thought of myself and, yes, it will change overtime, but I always want to know what I think about myself.       

Creating a Customer Avatar

My customer is about 22 years old, a typical college senior. He is an average guy with concerns for his future. My customer studies often, loves his family and friends, enjoys letting loose and relaxing on occasion, and is a bit shy. He is not extremely confident, but tries to put himself out there. Sometimes he steps on his own feet and makes a mess of the situation that he is in, whether that be forgetting to study for an exam, or simply jumbling a story he is telling to friends. He is a pretty average guy, but is determined and hard-working. He is trying to better himself and the people around him as much as he can, but he needs to step up to the plate and capitalize on an opportunity for himself. My customer does not have children, however, he is in a serious relationship. He wants to be able to find a good job to support himself, and, the family he plans on having in the future. He loves reading about cars. His dream is to one day retire and work on cars as a hobby. His favorite athlete is Kobe Bryant because Bryant worked hard to become the legendary basketball player he is, and my customer wants to work hard to excel in the business field. He is genuine and smart. He is the one most of his friend rely on when they need help, and can quickly think his way out of most situations. He is a little confused on what to do with his future. He is graduating with a business degree and knows he has lots of potential jobs he can be doing, but is not completely sure what he wants to do with the degree. 

I do have a few things in common with my avatar. I am hard-working, love cars, and sometimes jumble situations. I do not think it is a coincidence. I am currently a sophomore in college and just thinking about what I am going to do with my life after college is a bit scary. I know the field I want to work in and I know that I want to own my own Architecture firm, but the process of getting to where I am financially stable to open my own firm and all of the steps that go with it is overwhelming right now. I feel the service of advising graduating seniors would be helpful to me, because I will soon be in that same situation.           

Figuring Out Buyer Behavior No. 2

My segment is graduating seniors and what they plan to do after college.   I interviewed three people and asked them about multiple things.
The first person I interviewed was Jerry. Jerry is an architecture student graduating this spring.  I asked him what matters most when he is purchasing items and he said it depends on what he is looking for. For example, if he wants to buy a shirt to wear to a party, he buys something cheap that is not the best material because more than likely it will get messed up anyways. However, if he is buying something he plans to wear everyday, he will look at the material and how comfortable it is. In my segment, he said quality matters the most. He wants someone who can really guide him in life and make getting a job easier. More than likely, my segment will be bought online and then will set up an appoint to come meet the advisors. People will more than likely hear about it through some form of social media and sign up online to them come in later. Something that helps my customer determine if the purchase is a good idea is how many people actually get jobs when using the company. For example, if people that go to that place have a higher rate of getting jobs in their field then most, then they will use the service.
The second person I interviewed was named Anna. Anna is also a graduating senior and an architecture major. Anna says she looks at price the most when looking at products because she is a poor college student. She is trying to save every penny she has. She said my segment would be best sold in person because then the customer can get an idea of the people that will be helping them. She said for this purchase to be good for her, she would want to feel like she learned something from the advisor for a price $20 per meeting.
The third person I interviewed was Noah. Noah is a graduating senior with a finance major. He said he looks at style when thinking about things to buy. He really likes brand names and cares about what he looks like almost too much. He said that he would buy my product online and was hoping that there was some sort of online communication he could do if he had a quick question. He said that what matters most to him is that the advisor really helps him and guides him. If he feels like he was guided in the right direction, he does not really care what the price is.

In these interviews, I noticed that my service most people will pay for, even when they do not have a lot of money. Every person wanted advice and said that advice is always something that they are open to hearing.       

Halfway Reflection

This class is not very difficult, but, if you want to actually learn from the class, put all you can into each activity. Each activity helps you think like an entrepreneur and, eventually, you will do it without thinking. To keep up with this course, I simply check the assignments on Monday, do readings, if their any, watch the lectures, and submit the assignments. If you do this, you will have success in this class. Three weeks ago, I had a final in two of my classes and a paper due in another. During this time i felt like it was too much work and i would not be able to get it all done, but I was able to finish everything and do well. I feel like over the past two months, I have become more tenacious. I feel I now try and find and capitalize on  opportunities, which I did not do before. Recently, I have began designing t-shirts because one of my friends needed a designer. I now have sold over 250 shirts and have new designs being used every few weeks. Three tips I would offer next semester students is (1) make sure you complete the assignments. Theses assignments are most of your points in the class. If you do them you will do well. (2) Watch the lectures. There is a quiz every week on the lectures and they are free points if you watch. (3) Put your all into the assignments. The more you put into the assignment, the more you will get out of it.